Noseworthy stepping away from the plate after long career

Long-time baseball umpire, coach and volunteer Roger Noseworthy is stepping away from the game after 39 years of involvement. Noseworthy has umpired at national and world championships.T.J. Colello - Cape Breton Post

NORTH SYDNEY — Roger Noseworthy has dusted off home plate thousands of times as an umpire. This summer was officially his last.

The long-time baseball official, coach and volunteer from Sydney Mines is stepping away from the game after 39 years of involvement.

“In July of this year, I decided that I had enough. I put my time in, and it’s time for someone else to step up, especially someone who has some kids in it,” said the 52-year-old, originally from North Sydney.

Noseworthy played Little League baseball in North Sydney from the ages of 10 to 12. The following year, Lloyd Leyte asked if he was interested in coaching. Noseworthy joined Joe McKee on the bench of the Amco Dodgers in 1975 and worked with McKee until he was 19. He was active on the bench until about five years ago.

His career behind the plate began a couple of years after he began coaching. Noseworthy has since worked seven Canadian championships and the 2006 Senior Little League World Series in Bangor, Maine, a tournament he calls one of the best moments of his career.

Noseworthy has served as a regional director with Baseball Nova Scotia for the past five years. He was named volunteer of the year for Baseball Nova Scotia in 2001, and umpire of the year for Cape Breton in 2005.

His final national tournament as an umpire was at last year’s Canadian Little League Championship in Glace Bay.

“Being from the Northside and being ask to go to Glace Bay and umpire, it was a treat,” he said. “Nicky Bonnar, Bo MacNeil, Chris Fanning, Harold MacNeil, these were guys I’ve umpired with the last 10 years. It was good to be with them and end my career.”

What he’ll miss most about his time around the ball diamonds of Cape Breton is the interaction with the kids.

“Where I started coaching at a very young age, I see guys that I coached now have their own kids into it and we still have that friendship, that’s what I’ll miss,” he said. “Getting to coach kids and getting that interaction and then watching them grow up and become adults themselves.”

Noseworthy isn’t completely walking away from the game. Whenever he’s free, he’ll be at the ball field at Indian Beach in North Sydney on Tuesday umpiring a wooden bat softball league.

“It’s a laugh,” he said. “It’s all guys I coached, guys I played ball with, and guys I looked up to.”

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